Despite the appalling conditions 15 enthusiastic youngsters turned out for the Badgers yesterday.

Although Stroud were a younger and slightly weaker team they did field 2 strong adults in defence. We must commend Stroud for the excellent spirit in which the game was played and in particular the positive contribution that their adults made. It is always a pleasure playing against a team where the adults do not dominate but hold the structure of the game together.

We played excellent hockey and there were a number of key highlights which warrant mentioning:

Despite trying to drive everything through the middle in the first half our lads took on board the half time chat and started to use our width. Such was the efficacy of this that we were commended by the adult opposition as being the first team that they had played against where width had been used to negate the effect of the adults.

We had a number of new team members and they were made to feel welcome by the regulars and contributed in a very positive manner. If ever there was proof required that dynamite comes in small packages Alex Hewer is a perfect example of this.

Dan Baker had an excellent game and contributed 4 of the 6 goals we scored as we went on to win this game 6-1. Despite this excellent contribution, our man of the match award went to Matt Woods. Matt's workrate on the field is an example to all and he played a significant role in the second half by using the width we so desperately needed.

All in all, once again this was an excellent team effort.

I would also like to make special mention of Dan Roach and Tim Bannister, who very kindly agreed to play for the opposition, who were a couple of players short. This meant everyone had more time on the pitch rather than on the bench.

May I remind all of the system we try to follow. An e-mail is sent out on Sunday / Monday inviting responses. The team is generally announced on a Thursday evening and generally speaking all respondants do get to play, but we do get occassions where too many players are available and this causes chaos on the sideline with too many players on the bench getting bored or frustrated.

Finally, thanks to all the lads who mucked in and helped tidy up the clubhouse, and excellent effort.

-- Stuart